


Captain America Finds His Fella – missing scene

by PR Zed (przed)



Series: Captain America Has a Fella [4]
Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-28
Updated: 2017-03-28
Packaged: 2018-10-11 22:09:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10475484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/przed/pseuds/PR%20Zed
Summary: Steve's not sure how to manage it, making Bucky legal, getting him pardoned for all the terrible things he was forced to do for decades.  He's still just a kid from Brooklyn.Tony, though…Tony is Howard's kid.  Tony grew up around money and power.  Tony will know what to do.  He'll know how to start, who to talk to.  Tony has lawyers and P.R. people and whole teams dedicated to getting government approval for all the crazy shit Tony's invented.But there's a reason why Tony might not want to help.  Why, in fact, he might be one of the people leading the charge to lock up Bucky and throw away the key.Or, how Steve Rogers gets Tony Stark to help the Winter Soldier get his Real Boy papers.





	

**Author's Note:**

> When I was writing Captain America Finds His Fella, I spent a lot of time thinking about how Steve might have gone about talking Tony into helping Bucky. I started playing with this scene, but it didn't match the POV of the rest of the story so I reluctantly abandoned it. But there were a few beats in the story I really liked, so I've given it a polish and offer it as the (almost certainly) final instalment of this series.

When Audrey asks him if Bucky's in hiding, Steve feels his heart start to hammer in his chest, feels a tremor shudder through his hands. _This is it_ , he thinks. _This is where someone comes to get Bucky and takes him away and their chance at happily ever after will be gone forever_.

But then Audrey explains further, and Steve realizes it's both worse and better than he'd first thought. There isn't anyone after him at the moment, no one seeking to take Bucky from him. Not yet. Not right this moment. But if he doesn't do something, doesn't make sure Bucky is legal, to use Audrey's word, then eventually someone will come after him. The government will hunt Bucky down and lock him up and throw away the key.

Steve's not going to let that happen.

Steve's not sure how to manage it, making Bucky legal, getting him pardoned for all the terrible things he was forced to do for decades. He's still just a kid from Brooklyn.

Tony, though…Tony is Howard's kid. Tony grew up around money and power. Tony will know what to do. He'll know how to start, who to talk to. Tony has lawyers and P.R. people and whole teams dedicated to getting government approval for all the crazy shit Tony's invented.

But there's a reason why Tony might not want to help. Why, in fact, he might be one of the people leading the charge to lock up Bucky and throw away the key.

Two weeks ago, Bucky had woken with a scream in his throat. 

"Nightmare?" Steve had asked as he'd held Bucky, carding his fingers through hair damp with sweat.

"Yeah." Bucky had spoken into Steve's shoulder, his eyes tightly clenched. His breath hitched, and then he'd asked, "When did Howard die?"

Steve had frozen, because he knew where this was going.

"'91."

"How?"

"Officially? It was a car accident." Steve hadn't wanted to have this conversation. Not ever. He'd held this terrible secret since encountering that computerized monstrosity Arnim Zola had transformed himself into.

"Unofficially, it was me, wasn't it?" 

"It wasn't you." He'd needed Bucky to understand that none of what he'd been forced to do was his fault. "Not really."

"It _was_ me. I've remembered." Bucky's voice had sounded flat and hopeless. "Howard called me Sergeant Barnes and then I killed him. Him and his wife." Bucky had clutched at him tightly. "Tony's done nothing but help me, and I killed his mom and dad."

"It wasn't you," Steve had repeated, hoping that if he said it often enough, Bucky would believe it.

He still hasn't convinced Bucky that he doesn't bear responsibility for the Winter Soldier's deeds. Now he's going to have to convince Tony of the same thing.

He sets up a meeting with Tony the day after Audrey talks to him. He travels to the tower with the file Natasha had given him stuffed into his backpack. JARVIS directs him up to Tony's lab, where Tony is waiting for him, his welding mask flipped up, examining the beginnings of a new suit.

"What's up, Capsicle? Pepper said you wanted to talk?"

"Yeah." Steve hesitates, not quite sure how to start. "I have a favour to ask. But first I need you to read something." He pulls out the Winter Soldier file. It's even more dog-eared than when Nat gave it to him. When he was searching for Bucky, he read this horrible thing too many times. At the time, he told himself he was looking for clues, for hints of places where Bucky may have gone to ground. But he's started to think what he was really doing was serving penance, punishing himself for failing to protect Bucky. Father Patrick would have been so pissed at him. He'd always told Steve he took on more than his fair share of guilt.

"That's your Robo Boyfriend's file, isn't it? I already know what happened to Barnes." Tony waves the file away.

"You know the broad strokes. I need you to know the details.

Tony looks like he's on the edge of objecting, but then he shrugs and holds out a hand.

"Fine. I can't say I'm not curious what those Hydra fucks did to him. Might make maintaining that arm of his easier."

"The original file is in Russian. Nat did a translation." Steve hands it over. "She's the only other person to have seen the file."

Steve takes a seat in the corner of the lab. Tony flips open the file and taps Bucky's army picture on the opening page.

"He was a good-looking kid."

"Still is," Steve says. "Read the file, Tony."

Steve watches as Tony works his way through the file. He occasionally asks JARVIS to bring up information on various topics (robotics, mental conditioning, brain surgery.) By the time he's finished the file, he looks queasy. And angry.

"Your boyfriend survived a lot. Those fuckers ripped him apart and put him back together wrong."

"They did." Steve keeps his voice steady, even though the mere existence of the file is enough to make him feel ill. He doesn't want to inflict its knowledge on anyone else, but he knows it's necessary.

"So, I've read the file. What's the favour you want?"

"I want Bucky to be free. I want him pardoned for everything he did under Hydra's control."

"Done." Tony doesn't hesitate for even a second. "I'll get my people working on it right now. He should have a pardon by the end of the week."

"There's one more thing you need to know."

"No, there isn't, Cap. What's in that file, that's the worst thing I've-"

"He killed your parents," Steve blurts out. There's no way he can cushion this blow, so he doesn't even try. But Tony needs to know this. He'll find out, sooner or later, and if he thinks Steve hid this from him…

"What?" Steve doesn't think he's ever seen Tony frozen in shock before.

"Hydra had him kill your parents. It wasn't really him, but he did it."

Tony stands there for a long moment, all colour drained from his face.

"Get out," he finally says. 

"Tony-"

"Get out. Now."

Steve doesn't move, can't move, until JARVIS speaks.

"You need to leave, Captain Rogers."

Tony is staring at him with barely leashed fury.

"It wasn't—"

"Get out," Tony says.

Steve leaves the lab. As the doors close behind him, he hears a roar and a crash. He doesn't look back.

For two days, he doesn't leave Brooklyn, doesn't leave the apartment. For two days he pretends that everything is fine as they follow their routine. Bucky's therapists have told them routine is important for recovery. Regular meals, regular exercise, regular activities. It seems to be working for Bucky, and Steve finds it helps keep him grounded while he's waiting for the other shoe to drop with Tony. But the longer he goes without hearing from Tony, the more anxious he gets. At the end of 48 hours, he starts putting together a go bag in case they have to drop everything and run.

On the third day, Tony shows up at the apartment.

Bucky answers the door, but as soon as he sees who's there, Steve puts himself between Bucky and Tony. If anyone is going to pay for what happened to Tony's parents, Steve wants it to be him.

But Tony doesn't attack him or Bucky. He hasn't arrived in an Iron Man suit or with lawyers or a SHIELD strike team. He just looks at Steve and says two words.

"I'm in."

Bucky looks confused. Steve hasn't told him anything. Not about Audrey's question or Steve going to Tony for help or Tony's reaction to Steve's revelation.

Steve just feels so grateful.

"Thank you," he says. He reaches behind him and feels Bucky automatically take his hand.

"What are you in on?" Bucky looks back and forth between them in confusion. "What are you thanking him for?"

"Your boyfriend asked me to get you your Real Boy papers, Robo Soldier. I've already got my best lawyers working on it."

"Thank you." Bucky looks floored.

"You're welcome," Tony says, more gently than Steve's expecting. Then he points at Steve. "Come by the Tower tomorrow for lunch. Barnes can start signing papers. You can help Dum-E clean up my lab."

"Anything you want," Steve says, gladly. It's only fair. Tony's hands may have torn apart the lab, but Steve's words were the catalyst for the destruction. He'll do anything Tony asks if it means helping Bucky.

Bucky is going to be legal. He's going to be free. He's going to be able to do whatever he wants, including choosing to help with Audrey's mysterious project.

It's one more step on Bucky's road to gaining back everything Hydra tore away from him, and Steve couldn't be happier.


End file.
